


A Day of Miracles

by KumikoIshida



Category: Slam Dunk
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-19
Updated: 2018-06-19
Packaged: 2019-05-25 12:59:49
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,389
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14977658
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KumikoIshida/pseuds/KumikoIshida
Summary: Both Rukawa Kaede and Sakuragi Hanamichi hate Valentine's Day.But maybe, this one is gonna be different.





	A Day of Miracles

Kaede Rukawa hated Valentine's Day.  
First of all, on Valentine's Day he had to get up early, and that was a thing he just couldn't stand: but if he went to school at the usual time he would have had to worm his way into an unbreakable sea of dumbasses armed with chocolate boxes, soft toys and love letters. They were a lot, too many, even if he wanted to he couldn't accept all those gifts; and, anyway, he didn't want to.  
The sun was just rising, while a very asleep fox tied up his bycicle in front of the school. He wondered for a while to go to the gym and kill some time, then he gave up: if he had done that, he would have had to worm his way in the crowd to reach his classroom, and then he might as well get up at the usual time. He went to his classroom, trying not to think to the object he had in his schoolbag.  
-Rukawa!- the voice of a grown-up called; he was sitting at the teacher's desk, and probably was the japanese teacher: usually, Rukawa wasn't awake enough to recall his teacher's features.  
-Good morning, teacher.- he politely answered, hoping not to salute the janitor.  
-What are you doing already at school? Lessons start in an hour.  
-It's Valentine's Day. I wanted to avoid the crowd.  
-I see. It must be hard to be the girls'idol.- Rukawa got the sarcasm, but decided not to answer. He buried himself in a book and tried to stay awake, ready for the first assaults of the morning.

Hanamichi Sakuragi hated Valentine's Day.  
Valentine's Day was when he bought chocolates for girls, chocolates that were sistematically rejected, for Takamiya's joy, who had appointed himself to eat the evidence.  
More, that Valentine's Day Hanamichi had woken up at six from a nightmare he absolutely couldn't remember, that had left him emptied and terrified.  
Alone in the still silent house, he had decided to go to school ahead of time, so he would have had the chance, vague indeed, to hide in his classroom before seeing all the school's bitches bury Rukawa under a landslide of presents. He was envious, and he didn't want to worsen the day any more. He knew he could simply pretend it was a day like another, but he would have had to go around the school blindfolded and with ear stoppers to avoid seeing and hearing all the presents and greetings exchanges and the kisses.  
He was walking happily in the still empty corridors, whistling the Tensai's song, when he heard someone calling him: -Sakuragi! What is this, a day of miracles?- he vaguely identified the japanese professor's voice, coming from another of the first sections. Bored to death, he went in waving happily: -Good morning, professor! You know, Tensais always get up early!  
-Oh, really? So why are you so often late?- Hanamichi laughed, embarassed.  
-Do'aho.- a voice came from the bottom of the empty classroom.  
-Rukawa!- Hanamichi shouted.  
-Shut up, idiot, I'm hiding.  
-Hiding? From what, your fans?  
-Nh... exactly.- Hanamichi was startled. He had never thought that the fox could find it annoying to be so idolized.  
-Sakuragi and Rukawa at school so early, Rukawa is talking and Sakuragi is silent! It is, indeed, a day of miracles!- commented the teacher. Sakuragi broke the illusion bursting in his thunderous laugh, meanwhile Rukawa confirmed the teacher's assumption bowing a corner of his mouth in what surely was a half smile.  
-Well, I'm going to my classroom, I could even finish some homework!- Hanamichi said, waving with his hand.

Rukawa got an epiphany.  
A crazy idea, that would probably cost him at least a smashed eardrum and a dozen bruises: but at least, in the worse scenario, he would have had an excuse to take refuge in the infirmary.  
-Hey, Sakuragi!- he called the team mate before he could get away from his classroom. He turned, astonished, and that exitation allowed Rukawa to get close to him.  
-Listen, I... I'd have to ask you a favor.- risked Rukawa, looking at Sakuragi's feet. That was how he didn't notice his eyes getting as big as tea cups.  
-Ah... really?- was the only answer Sakuragi could find.  
-Yeah... you know...- Rukawa really hoped his bangs were enough to cover the redness that had begun to cover his cheeks, at least judging from how much he felt his cheekbones boil. He swallowed and dropped the bomb: -Listen, can I spend the day with you and your friends?- “Here, you signed for a headbutt, couldn't you say it in a less ambiguous way?  
-And why would you want to spend Valentine's Day with us?- Sakuragi asked, for once in a voice low enough not to make the window glasses tremble.  
-Because you're five people, you could... well, protect me.- Rukawa raised his eyes and stared at Sakuragi's, embarassed by the idea of being in the condition to ask a favour, to ask Sakuragi Hanamichi a favour. But, after the summer, his fans had become way more pushy, and he really doubted he could get to the end of the day without a charge for aggression or without being raped by a shitload of psychotics.

Hanamichi was astonished by Rukawa's request. Was it possible that he had judged him so wrong? Maybe he was just a normal boy, that hadn't done anything to go look after the assault of the ninetynine point nine percent of the school girls.  
When Rukawa raised his eyes to look at him, Hanamichi was forced to step back for the surprise: what he saw in them was fear, embarassment and something he couldn't define. Envy, maybe? Because he had friends and didn't have to borrow them? Awe, because he was big and could set himself free from herds of girls alone?  
Fact is, Rukawa was in trouble, and Hanamichi, who if he was a fan of Harry Potter would have been sorted in Hufflepuff without the slightest doubt, answered: -But of course, no problem! We come to get you at the break!- he whiped a slap on his shoulder, embarassed, then he escaped before hearing him say thanks.

Rukawa got back to his desk, his heart beating fast. Maybe he would have managed to survive until the evening.  
-Today we'll keep the doors closed.- the teacher said, who finally seemed to have turned on his brain, -I'll wait here for the maths teacher and I'll ask her to do the same until Sakuragi gets here.  
-Nh... thanks.- Rukawa squeezed himself.

Hanamichi got to his classroom and dropped to his desk. Why was his heart beating so fast? Was it just because Rukawa had let him watch over that mask of trained indifference he wore everyday? Obviously it wasn't for the perspective of spending the day with that damn fox! His friends' arrival interrupted his thoughts.  
-Hey, Hanamichi! Are you ready for another depressed Valentine's Day? How many chocolates did you buy?- Takamiya asked, anticipating the bellyful.  
-None, this year I'm not even trying.- Hanamichi answered, frowning.  
-Nooo, what do I do now? What will I eat tonight in front of tv?  
-Like they ever got to the night...- Okhusu commented. Hanamichi raised in his whole, considerable height, while the other students started to enter the classroom, and from outside came an exagerated but predictable chatter.  
-My friends, we have a mission today!- he annouced.  
-A mission? What, to find you a girl?- Mito asked, -Because I must tell you, none of us is Tom Cruise, we're not prepared for a Mission Impossible.  
-YOU MORON!- Hanamichi thundered, -No, we have to protect Rukawa!- silence fell. The whole class had heard him. Mito whispered: -Did you beat your head?- Hanamichi got serious again and adapted the tone of his voice to his friend's: -No. I met him this morning and he asked if he can stay with us today. I think he's afraid that those bitches that follow him everyday will suffocate him with presents.  
-I'm in!- Takamiya yelled, -You know how much chocolate we will get?- the bell rang, forcing the boys to stop talking.

Taking a piss while escorted wasn't an effective incentive, Rukawa thought, but at least he didn't have to worry that some girl would attack his back while he was turned towards the urinal. He felt strangely calm, surrounded by those five punks, that after an initial straddle had welcomed him in their group, engaging him in their nonsense speeches without demanding him to answer. Mito, in particular, was really kind, and the fat one had appointed himself for the role of chocolate gatherer: much of it hadn't made it to the end of the morning break, and there was no trace of the rest when the five of them rescued him outside of his classroom at the beginning of the lunch break.  
-Shall we go to the roof?- Mito suggested, -The sun is quite warm and there's no wind.  
-And we can seal the door.- grinned the blond one, whose name Rukawa didn't recall. During the trip to the roof, they gathered a few more kilos of chocolate and a dozen soft-toys, then they managed to barricade themselves outside and eat in peace. Rukawa felt fair, listening to the funny chattering of those five boys. “Don't get used to it, it's just for today”, he reminded himself.

Hanamichi stared shady at the mountain of chocolate. Just to do something, he started to rummage, looking for some dark chocolate. -Hey, Kitsune, do they only give you milk chocolate? No dark choco?  
-Nh... no, they can't even get my preferences right.  
-Oh, so you do have something in common!- Mito said, a bit out of turn, joining the marshaling. He was looking for some hazelnut chocolate. He raised a Hello Kitty soft-toy and asked: -Rukawa, do you mind if I take this one? My little sister loves Hello Kitty.  
-All yours.- Hanamichi kept marshaling, with a strange sensation: that day, Rukawa didn't seem unpleasant, he was almost nice.  
-Found it!- he cheered, triumphantly raising a box with the magnificent statement “Extra Dark Chocolate”.  
-Hey, let go of it, Do'aho! After all, they gave it to me!- Rukawa yelled (yelled?).  
-Oh, no, my beauty (my beauty?), finders keepers! It's the pirates' law!- Hanamichi opened the box and looked at the chocolates. For a few seconds, he didn't seem to recognize what shape they were, then a lightbulb appeared on his forehead and he gave them to the rightful owner: -Here, you can eat them.  
-WHAAAT?- the others yelled. Rukawa, silently, raised an hand to get the box... a trembling crossed his lips, while an eyebrow got caught by a nervous twitch. Taking everyone by surprise, he bursted into laughters, and his merriment infected Hanamichi too. With the corner of his eyes, he saw Mito tilting his head to look at what caused such an impossible happening. Two seconds passed and he screamed: -I can't believe it, they gave you dick-shaped chocolates!

Rukawa's stomach ached, and his cheekbones too. Since when he didn't laugh? Too long. It was the first time in years he felt so good outside a basket court, and he couldn't thank anyone but Sakuragi. When he managed to stop laughing, he stared at him and said: -I challenge you.  
-Challenge accepted, Kitsune, you can't defeat the Tensai!  
-Let's see who eats more chocolate dicks.- they glanced at each other for a while, spurting sparkles, then they pounced on the box. Sakuragi defeated him of little, and was priced by his friends' comments, who complimented his nature-born ability of shoving dicks in his mouth and gained some perfect headbutts in return.  
It was quite a pain, to watch them go away, once the break was over.

Hanamichi was starting to think at the walk towards Rukawa's classroom as something usual. It had been nice to see him laugh, surreal but nice. When he didn't hide behind that black cloud of hostility he could make up some good ones! Let's see who eats more chocolate dicks... that was crazy, indeed! Maybe the japanese teacher was right, that was a day of miracles.  
The Sakuragi Army rescued Rukawa at the door of his classroom and they headed to the gym, with Hanamichi dictating the pace with his usual big steps, always on the rhythm of the Tensai's Song, and the other four making a shield around Rukawa and harvesting chocolate. How many of those weirdos were there? And was there any chocolate left in any shop of Kanagawa?

No, here they were again.  
As predictable as an intestinal infection after a trip to Mexico and almost as enjoyable.  
Rukawa couldn't even concentrate on the training, and he clearly saw that the others were annoyed, too. Miyagi had even also given him a dirty look, as it was his fault. Mitsui was visibly screwed up, Kogure massaged his forehead as he was victim of a migraine, Ayako was hitting people with his fan so much that she was close to creating a tornado with her own hands and Akagi yelled random scorn, but it was Sakuragi that made Rukawa worry: silent as a tomb, the truce stare that usually went along with his agonistic moments, his shoulders crooked and his muscles darting out of control. He looked like he was ready to kill.  
-Rukawa, I love you!- one of the bitches yelled.  
-Make me yours!  
-Stud!  
-Hottie!  
Then, they started with their incitement, which he hated. Rukawa lost his nerve, and with heavy steps he reached the door to close it. He looked at them, hoping he could burn them alive with the strengh of his hatred and grabbed the handlebar of one of the sliding doors. He reached out towards the other, but found it occupied. Sakuragi looked in his eyes and gave him a brief, undetectable nod. They violently closed the door together, silencing the idiots.  
-Better?- Sakuragi asked.  
-Better.- Rukawa heard himself answering, with a tiny smile.

-Rukawa, I think you better hide.- Mitsui said, grinning. After the closing of the doors, the training got better, and the team had found a good state of mind. Hanamichi emerged from the showers, wrapping a bathcloth around his waist, and started to listen in.  
-Nh?  
-Haruko told Ayako, who told Miyagi, who told me, that out there they're thinking about getting you all together.  
-Nh...  
-I got lost.- Hanamichi said, forgetting that he wasn't supposed to listen; he had understood until the fist passage of the warning.  
-They want to gang rape him, given that he's not doing.  
-Is that locker free?- Rukawa asked, paler than usual.  
-Yes, why?- Mitsui answered.  
-Lock me in there.- Hanamichi bursted into laughters. He stood beside his team mate and put a hand on his shoulder: -Don't worry, Kitsune! I'm protecting you!  
-Yeah, you and what army?- asked Miyagi, entering the changing room just in time to catch the last lines of the conversation: -I was on the roof, I counted them. I gave up at sixty.- Hanamichi turned pale.  
-Stay here, Rukawa.- Akagi suggested, with a severe glance.  
-What do yo do to women?- Miyagi asked. Hanamichi found himself with his hand over nothing: Rukawa's sweaty shoulder wasn't there anymore, because the boy had sat on the bench.

Enough.  
Enough, enough, enough.  
He would have gladly thrown an atomic bomb on his fans, if only he could have been sure that the police would consider it as legitimate defense. Basically, the only reason he hadn't done it yet was that a life long sentence to the high security row would have precluded him to crown his dreams of glory with basketball.  
-I'd like to know.- he answered to Miyagi, in a low voice, -So I'd stop.- he covered his face with his hands, exasperated. A big hand landed on his shoulder, and Rukawa raised his head to look at Akagi. The captain gave him a set of keys: -Stay all the time you want. Close the door.  
-We'll tell the psychos you went out from the back.- Mitsui added.  
-There's no door on the back, the security exit goes to the front!- Sakuragi yelled.  
-I do know, moron, but there's no need for them to know! They'll leave eventually!- the locker room emptied, and Rukawa was able to stay in silence, looking at the gym keys the captain had left him.  
The bench curved under someone else's weight, and Rukawa raised his eyes: Sakuragi was sitting beside him, and was looking at the keys with an absorbed glance.  
-I never thought they annoyed you.  
-Nh... Do'aho.- default reply. What was he, a retard?  
-I'm sorry.- Sakuragi added, then he got up and shoved his head in his locker.

Hanamichi felt like an idiot. For almost a year he had hated Rukawa, thinking he basked in the attention his fans gave him, sure he fucked one of them every week, and now he eventually realized it wasn't so. He catched his own reflection in the mirror of his locker and he tried to compress his facial muscles to a neutral expression, or at least one that wasn't so shocked as the one he had now. When he was quite satisfied, he put on his shorts and a random t-shirt, he re-emerged and announced: -I'm going to check up the situation.- Rukawa didn't answer, still looking at the keys. Hanamichi climbed the stands and went through the security exit that also led to the roof. He went to the front of the gym's roof and looked down. There were about twenty girls left; a few of them saw him and started laughing, making him angry: what the hell was there that was so funny? He was a person like many others, for Gods' sake!  
He went back to the gym, carefully closing the door. Luckily, none of those morons had thought thay could enter from there while it was open. In the gym, he found Rukawa with a ball in his hand. He got closer to speak at a low tone. -A few of them went away, there's only twenty or so left.- he wispered.  
-Just go, sooner or later they'll go away as well...  
-Naaah, there's no problem.  
-I don't want you to be late.  
-I'm late anyways.- Hanamichi answered, without knowing if the sentence had a logical meaning (and it didn't) or why did he care so much in staiyng there with Rukawa. He only knew he would have felt like shit leaving him alone in the gym, at the mercy of that bunch of perverts.  
-One on one?- Rukawa suggested.

Sakuragi's stare made him lose a few heartbeats. For the whole day, Rukawa had managed not to be looked at with disdain, but here it was: at 7 in the evening, he had awaken the beast.  
-No, thanks.- Sakuragi answered.  
-Wasn't it you, last summer, busting my balls to have a one on one with me?  
-Yeah, and my butt's still aching, thank you so much. I helped you all day and you thank me suggesting you humiliate me?- Rukawa felt an overpowering sensation of triumph: it was that! That was why Sakuragi hated him! That damn do'aho, what did he think, that he hadn't got better in seven months? What a moron.  
-What you're doing, backing off?- he provoked him.  
-NEVER!- Sakuragi yelled. Was it that easy to prick his pride? He just had to challenge him and he rushed headlong: Rukawa could force him to throw himself from the roof, or into his arms... what the hell was he thinking, now?  
-To twenty.- he decided, starting to dribble,  
-I'm asphalting you, Rukawa, Tensai's word!

Hanamichi was quite sure his fight words were empty, but he had found out he didn't know himself so well. The challenge had been magically balanced, and had ended 21-19 for Rukawa just because the last had managed to score a three point shot.  
-I told you so.- Rukawa said calmly, drying his sweat with his t-shirt. Hanamichi couldn't find any word to answer. He had been ahead of Rukawa! Just seven months before, he had poorly lost, without managing to score a single point, and that night the challenge lasted for an hour, a magnificent hour in which Hanamichi never ever felt in default.  
-I'm fed up.- Rukawa said, going to the locker room, -I'm going home, I don't give a shit if those retards are still out there.  
-I'm going with you.- Hanamichi warned, following him. Silently, they took a shower, and that silence seemed really beautiful to Hanamichi. He usually hated silence, even at home he talked a blue streak with his mother, and when he was alone he would call his friends or listen to loud music, but right there, with Rukawa, the silence didn't talk about death, of empty spaces that had been filled with dear people, the silence didn't grow like a cancer, it didn't erode your stomach, it didn't squeeze your heart. For the first time, Hanamichi was finding out that silence could be a soft woolen blanket in a cold winter night.

Motionless in front of the closed door of the gym, Rukawa felt his coolness going away.  
-Shall we go, now?- he heard Sakuragi say, but he didn't see him moving, probably aware that Rukawa still wasn't ready. What was this caring side of the loud clown of the team?  
-What if they're still out there?- he asked in a whisper. Sakuragi stood silent, and Rukawa raised his eyes to be comforted by the team mate's strong personality. His hazel eyes were serious and worried. Rukawa barely heard him when he said: -Maybe I've got an idea. Let's go out, play dumb and back me up.- Together, they opened the doors and they found themself once again drowning in a sea of wild hormones. Screams of horny babboons rifted the air, and it was with great difficulty that Rukawa managed to find the keyhole to lock the gym door, because his hands were shaking: but he felt protected by Sakuragi's big figure. He was behind him and was now yelling louder than the perverts. Rukawa turned back towards him and with a small poke he signalled Sakuragi he was ready: Shohoku's number 10 turned back, he stared at him with the glance he kept for his best actions and he grabbed his hand.  
It only took a second for Rukawa to reciprocate: he braided his fingers to Sakuragi's and let him carry him away.  
Silence had fallen beneath his fans, and the two of them managed to get away peacefully.

He didn't need to hold his hand anymore.  
The school, and its pervert regulars, were out of sight from a few blocks before, but Hanamichi was reluctant to break the contact.  
-Why?- Rukawa's question caught him by surprise.  
-Why what?- he answered, thinking he referred to their tangled hands. He moved his to break the contact, but Rukawa's was still firm on it.  
-Why did you decide to help me, today?  
-Because you asked me to.  
-Alright, but... it's me.- Hanamichi kept quiet, looking for words. How could he explain that he hated to see people in need? How could he explain that he was trying to purge for a deadly sin, for not being able to help his own father while he was about to die?  
-I'm just like this.- he answered, then his heart burst the bank: -You see, two years ago my dad had a stroke. I couldn't help him because I found myself alone against a band of bullies that stopped me from reaching the hospital on time. I can't stand anyone to be alone in a bad moment. And besides, you're not so unbearable.- Rukawa kept silent; the only sign he had listened to Hanamichi's speech was a slight increase in his hand's grip. They went on in silence, Rukawa directing Hanamichi's feet to his own home.

How the hell did he managed to laugh this much with such a great pain inside of him? Rukawa was shocked. Only now he could see over Sakuragi Hanamichi's laughing mask, and he recalled something he had heard some time before at the tv: “the saddest people smile the brightest”. He felt his team mate's big hand in his own, their fingers braided in a knot he didn't want to untie, and it was with regret that he stopped in front of the gate of his house. -We've arrived.- he announced, and he suddenly knew that if he didn't act right then, he would have never found the courage. He let go of Sakuragi's hand, unzipped his backpack and took out an object. Staring at the pavement, he gave it to him with both hands.

Hanamichi stood still, his heart apparently determined to try a breakout from his ribcage. Rukawa was offering him a small monkey-shaped soft toy, holding a box of dark chocolates.  
-But... what...?  
-Happy Valentine's Day.- Rukawa blabbered, his eyes still on the pavement. Hanamichi saw his arms tremble a little and he finally realized. He raised two hands that didn't feel like they belonged to him, and he took the little monkey. It was fluffy. -Thank you...- he murmured, -And... I'm sorry, I mean... I never received anything for Valentine's Day.- no doubt that Rukawa wasn't making it easy for him, with that shitty abitude of being silent! What did he have to do, now? You usually kiss a girl, but he couldn't do that with Rukawa! Or he could?

Rukawa gained all the courage he had and raised his eyes in Sakuragi's, while lowering his arms.  
Later on, he could never say if it had really happened or if it was just a big mental wanking, but he found Sakuragi's lips on his own, a rude, unskilled kiss, with the mouth closed: more of a butthead than a kiss, basically, but it was enough to make him revaluate Valentine's Day. The mouth collision ended abruptly as it had begun, and Rukawa opened the door; from inside, he heard the noise of the tv and he smelled some food, that for once seemed to be almost edible. Maybe, it really was a day of miracles.  
Before getting in, he looked his team mate in the eyes and whispered: -Thank you for everything... Hanamichi.

**Author's Note:**

> This was meant to be a bromance for one of my best friends, Illy.  
> I'm sorry, Coffeepie, but they keep falling in love with each other!


End file.
